Dricus du Plessis unsure of Israel Adesanya fight at UFC 300: ‘I’m not going to be fully recovered’
Dricus du Plessis claims that while competing at a monumental UFC 300 card in April – the newly-minted middleweight kingpin has no interest in potentially landing a bout with Israel Adesanya as soon as the event, particularly if he’s going to be fighting potentially compromised.
du Plessis, the newly-crowned undisputed middleweight champion, headlined UFC 297 just last month in Canada, narrowly edging out then-champion, Sean Strickland in his first championship fight under the promotion’s banner, landing the undisputed title.
And immediately welcoming the option of a UFC 300 clash with arch-rival, Adesanya, South African favorite, du Plessis claimed he only issued a call out to the City Kickboxing, after receiving prior knowledge confirming the ex-champion’s ability to make the card.
Dricus du Plessis unsure of UFC 300 fight with Israel Adesanya
However, for himself, Pretoria native, du Plessis claimed that while a spot on the massive pay-per-view card in April would be huge for him, he won’t consider fighting at UFC 300 against Adesanya if he is not fully, one hundred percent recovered from his clash with Strickland.
“I think UFC 300 is obviously going to be a milestone event,” Dricus du Plessis told Jacaranda FM during a recent interview. “I think it’s going to be great. Every time you have the UFC 100, UFC 200, and now UFC 300 – all are massive events and the pay-per-views are insane, it’s a massive hype, and I would love to be part of that.”
“But, not if it’s going to mean that I’m not going to be fully recovered,” Dricus du Plessis continued. “Defending my title is much more important to me than being on this milestone event. The real milestone event will be UFC in Africa, and more importantly, South Africa. I can’t even explain to you how long I’ll be willing to wait to make that happen and defend my belt on home soil. That’s history. UFC 300 is just a number. It’s not as massive as UFC Africa.”
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